FREE CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A small Protestant organization which broke off from the
Church of England (see ENGLAND, CHURCH OF) in 1844 because of antagonism to the
Oxford Movement (see TRACTARIANISM). Being free from State control, it claims the right to
enter any parish where advanced ritualism prevails, and to establish a liturgical service on the
basis of the Evangelical party of the Anglican Church. Its churches are widely scattered
throughout England, although their number is small. It is governed by its own convocation and
by its few bishops, consecrated by Bishop Cummins (q.v.) of the American Reformed Episcopal
Church. The convocation meets annually in June. Its clergy number twenty-four, and its
churches twenty-seven, with accommodations for 8,140. It has 1,352 communicants, 361
Sunday-school teachers, and 4,196 Sunday-school scholars. Though practically identical with the
Reformed Episcopal Church of England (see
REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH), the two
refuse to unite on account of differences respecting government and the rights of the laity.